‘Underwater wasteland’ worries after cyclone hits Barrier Reef

SYDNEY: A powerful cyclone that smashed into northeastern Australia could have caused further damage to the under-pressure Great Barrier Reef, turning parts into an “underwater wasteland”, scientists warned Thursday.

There are already fears for the survival of corals in the central and northern areas of the World Heritage-listed marine ecosystem that stretches 2,300 kilometres (around 1,430 miles) off the Queensland state coast, after two consecutive years of mass bleaching from warming sea temperatures.